Andrea washes over Eastern NC

Four-year-old Sylvia Gartin and her mom, Megan Gartin, feel the wind from the first bands of Tropical Storm Andrea at Union Point Park on Friday before heavy rainfall started.

Byron Holland/Sun Journal

By Sun Journal Staff

Published: Friday, June 7, 2013 at 08:13 PM.

Tropical Storm Andrea knocked down power lines and dropped rain on Craven County, but the worst of the storm cleared the area by mid-afternoon Friday.

In Havelock, a power line came down before 10 a.m. near the intersection of West Main and Trader streets, causing a small outage. Havelock police blocked the service road and directed traffic at three intersections where signals were not operating. Power crews responded and had repaired the down line in about 90 minutes.

No major problems or power outages were reported in the wake of the first storm of the 2013 Hurricane season.

The National Weather Service predicted off-and-on rain showers through 2 a.m. Saturday, with winds around 15 to 25 mph, with some higher gusts. The forecast called for diminishing winds with a chance of scattered showers on Saturday.

The rain from Andrea started Thursday night. The overnight rains and wind were part of the outer bands of the tropical storm, said Brian Cullen, meteorologist with the Newport National Weather Service.

“We’ve been seeing the effects since (Thursday) evening,” he said. “There have been periods of heavy rain and gusty winds. Some localized flooding was reported in Washington and there were some public reports of trees down in Onslow County near Hubert and Maysville that happened earlier (Thursday) morning.”

Cullen said there was no confirmation that a tornado touched down in Onslow County or anywhere else in the state over night, although tornado warnings were issued.

Tropical Storm Andrea knocked down power lines and dropped rain on Craven County, but the worst of the storm cleared the area by mid-afternoon Friday.

In Havelock, a power line came down before 10 a.m. near the intersection of West Main and Trader streets, causing a small outage. Havelock police blocked the service road and directed traffic at three intersections where signals were not operating. Power crews responded and had repaired the down line in about 90 minutes.

No major problems or power outages were reported in the wake of the first storm of the 2013 Hurricane season.

The National Weather Service predicted off-and-on rain showers through 2 a.m. Saturday, with winds around 15 to 25 mph, with some higher gusts. The forecast called for diminishing winds with a chance of scattered showers on Saturday.

The rain from Andrea started Thursday night. The overnight rains and wind were part of the outer bands of the tropical storm, said Brian Cullen, meteorologist with the Newport National Weather Service.

“We’ve been seeing the effects since (Thursday) evening,” he said. “There have been periods of heavy rain and gusty winds. Some localized flooding was reported in Washington and there were some public reports of trees down in Onslow County near Hubert and Maysville that happened earlier (Thursday) morning.”

Cullen said there was no confirmation that a tornado touched down in Onslow County or anywhere else in the state over night, although tornado warnings were issued.

“Rain was coming down in buckets here about 4 a.m. (Friday morning),” said Chad Braxton, Vanceboro mayor. “My neighbor said he got about 3 inches, which is not as much as the 7.5 inches we got in another recent storm.

There was slight flooding in Vanceboro but no other reported damage.

“I was out riding around and there was some minor flooding on second roads near the canal but no danger to homes,” Braxton said. “”We never closed any roads; no trees were down; there were no power outages.”

John Percy Wetherington, mayor of Craven County’s western-most town, said folks there saw storm rain and wind but no significant damage.

Effects from Andrea did highlight roof problems that need repair at the building being converted into a library/civic center which Wetherington was appealing to Craven County commissioners for aid on Friday.

The retired insurance man who has worked with Red Cross storm shelters in his career, told commissioners that, once complete, the sturdy former school building can serve as a shelter in stronger storms.

Cove City Mayor Dread Mitchell Jr. said that town saw limbs and trees down, resulting in a couple of calls for Cove City Fire Department.

“Wintergreen Road got the worst of it,” Mitchell said. “It has a lot of trees close to the highway but we haven't had any power outages or flooding that I've heard about.”

Mid-afternoon Friday, Pollocksville Mayor Jay Bender said, “There really hasn’t been much to it here. I was out earlier, down to the post office, and didn’t see anything out of the ordinary.”

The stormy weather was enough for leaders at New Bern and Havelock high schools to move their Saturday morning graduation ceremonies indoors. West Craven High School will still have graduation outside at 8:45 a.m.

Havelock High graduation ceremony begins at 8:30 a.m. Forecasts call for rain through early Saturday, and school officials would not have had enough time to set up the stage and seating outdoors on what is expected to be a wet and muddy football field. They also had safety concerns for the public having to walk up and down wet bleachers.

New Bern’s graduation will be held in the high school’s gym Saturday at 8:30 a.m. Each graduate will receive three tickets for admission, and the doors will open at 7 a.m.